Insurance

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

Post-implementation review of a significant project to develop an insurance claims management system.  The original development absorbed approximately 1,700 man-days of development effort and took two and a half years from conception to delivery.  Final delivery omitted significant functionality from the original requirements and was considerably later than anticipated.

We identified weaknesses in the development processes particularly in:

·       Requirements specification

·       Change management

·       Testing

·       Common understanding of the role and contribution required of Development and Business to a major project.

We designed a comprehensive plan to respond to the challenges.

After implementing the plan to remedy the perceived weaknesses, a subsequent development of approximately similar magnitude was concluded with savings of approximately one third of both effort and elapsed time.

Development troubleshooting

Post-implementation review

Change management

Lifecycle management system

Requirements capture

Approximate effort:  12 days, for review, report and presentation of findings.

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

We were invited to design and execute a Project Kick-off Seminar to help stakeholders in the business understand the process of developing successful applications and their vital role and contribution to realising business benefits in the application of technology.

We brought together project sponsors, users and stakeholders with IT to work as a team on a major software development.  This enabled smooth and efficient communication and established the framework for effective collaboration.

Project inception

Project brief workshop

IT Steering Committee

Approximate effort:  8 days

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

We were asked to design, implement and train in a methodology to rigorously capture and document user requirements.  The training was undertaken through the execution of two pilot projects in collaboration with our client’s development staff.

Collapsed elapsed time for Requirements Specification by 75%, releasing business stakeholders from an unjustified and excessive effort contribution.

Enabled business stakeholders to fully understand the opportunity to re-engineer their business processes to harness full benefits of the deployment of IT.

Reduced volume of change requests, enabled robust test design, reduced overall development timetable.

Development process

Requirements capture

Team coaching

IT Steering Committee

Approximate effort: 58 days.  Overall project estimated at 1750 man days of development effort

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

We undertook a strategic review of a software development department encompassing value for money, assessment of the cost of delivery of principal services and the business alignment of the Corporate IT Strategy.

Our analysis demonstrated:

·       Savings of 15% of costs, approximately  £1m were achievable.

·       Offshore development should not be pursued in this instance as a strategic or tactical goal.

·       Improvement & enhancement was required in six key areas to make software development more reliable, predictable and manageable.

In addition we outlined the processes to be adopted by the business units

·       To formulate IT strategy,

·       Prioritise resources and projects and

·       Focus on business benefit realisation.

IT Management

Audit & Assess Development Department

IT Steering Committee

Corporate IT Strategy

Approximate effort:  35 days

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

Our brief was to design and implement Quality Assurance processes for an IT department of approximately fifty staff. 

The assignment involved design of a complete development lifecycle methodology working with client staff to change the informal development culture. 

Reorganisation was achieved by setting up a dedicated QA function within IT and providing interim management of the QA function to work with, mentor and train an internal appointee.

Reduced development effort on major projects.

Enhanced functionality and lowered defect rate.

Enabled greater accuracy of effort and release timetable estimates.

Created the ability to monitor the output of the development department, give advance warning of critical issues and created a controlled environment for their resolution.

Stabilised software releases through creation of a comprehensive test strategy, including automated testing.

Reduced dependency on individual knowledge by documenting applications, which produced a favourable impact on the flexibility of maintenance and enhancement.

Development process

Quality assurance

Process assurance

Interim management

Approximate effort: 155 days over a 12-month period, including interim management.

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

This assignment required solution design and project management of the ensuing project to replace legacy third party underwriting and claims management system.

Annual hard cost savings of £180,000 p.a.

Significant benefits in working efficiency.

Greater accuracy and reliability of management information.

Development Troubleshooting

Solution design

Programme & Project Management

Make or Buy

Approximate effort: 50 days

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

Post-acquisition of a software business it was discovered that the Intellectual Property (IP) that represented the acquired technology was not documented or understood beyond the original development team whose personal goals were not aligned to the goals of the acquirer.

We developed and staffed a plan to document the IP and transfer knowledge of the technology to a new team in the acquiring company's headquarters.

We removed a risk that undermined the entire business and successfully transferred Intellectual Property adjusting the client’s position from being 'held hostage' into controlling corporate assets.

Development Troubleshooting

Document & Safeguard IP from key employee leaving.

Approximate effort:  90 days.

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

The nature of our client’s project was to add a major function to an existing and complex insurance claims handling application.  We provided interim resource to fulfil the role of Project Manager during the design and implementation phases.   The situation indicated that the lack of in-house management experience presented a significant risk to the project.  As part of this work, we evolved the pre-existing quality methods.   Our technical knowledge and experience benefited the project as much as the project management skills initially identified and enabled us to provide the business with a broad spectrum of assistance. 

The new function was deployed successfully within one week of its planned date.

Quality practices were necessarily improved for the business.  Technical and project management knowledge was imparted to the internal team.

Project Management

Change Management

Development process

Quality assurance

Approximate effort:

Nature of Assignment

Business benefit realised

Service / Process Reference

We were retained as interim and project management of a development organisation within the insurance sector.    

One project required a business case for a large application software development. The business case was written as part of the PRINCE2 methodology used to manage this project, and formed the basis for validating a number of major project decisions. The focus was on measurable improvements to the business process. In this way, it was possible to optimise and prioritise the features required for the application.

Programme / Project Management

Business Case

Interim Management

Approximate effort: